Introduction
Most of the psalms are prayers, and we are studying them to learn how to pray. There are many different kinds of prayer-psalms (PRAISE & THANKS; MESSIANIC; SUPPLICATION; LAMENT). Ps. 58 is an example of another kind – read 58:6-9. Theologians call this an imprecatory psalm – which is another way of saying a psalm that asks God to judge certain people. Scholars number as many as 41 (27+%) psalms that are or include imprecations.[1]
How should we respond to these imprecatory psalms?
Many Christians (including many of us) just ignore them because they make us uncomfortable. But this ignoring response comes at a price – it erodes our faith in God's Word over time.
Others go further, and decide that this material is not worthy of the term "scripture" – so they scissor them out.[2] But this scissoring is very problematic.
For one thing, these imprecations are often interwoven with statements that we value greatly (e.g., Ps. 139:19-22).
For another, Jesus quoted several (13) of these psalms as God's Word.
For another, we would have to scissor out additional imprecatory passages from the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles.[3]
Instead of ignoring or scissoring, let's take a closer look at this psalm, and see what we can learn about God, ourselves, etc.
A closer look at Ps. 58
First, we should note that David is not just spewing indiscriminately out of arrogance or bigotry. He is responding to some really evil people. Read 58:1-5.
He is describing certain rulers who are willful, hardened people. They are very calculated in the way they use their power to exploit others. Like a cobra that refuses to obey its master, they refuse to obey God and willfully inject others with their venom of violence and injustice. Many commentators think David is referring to Saul and his cronies, who terribly misused their authority and defied repeated warnings by God.
How do you feel about the way the Nazi leaders who misused their power to systematically exploit and then exterminate the Jews? How do you feel about the regimes of Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot, and how they exterminated millions of their own citizens? Is an indifferent response righteous or loving?
Second, we should note that David is not vowing to take personal vengeance on these people. In fact, he showed remarkable retraint from personal vengeance in his dealings with such people. Twice he refused to take Saul out even when he could have easily done so (1 Sam. 24,26). Ps. 35:12-16 records his non-vengeful response to other similar enemies (read).
Rather, he is asking God to take them out in order to uphold His reputation (read 58:10,11). His main concern is for others' welfare and God's reputation. God had already promised to remove Saul (1 Sam. 13:14; 15:23), so 58:6-9 may be a predictive affirmation of what God said He would do.
Thirdly, we should note that this same David (in other psalms) wants even wicked people to repent rather than to be judged.
Read Ps. 2:2,10-12 (Acts 4:25 ascribes to David). David urges wicked rulers to repent so they can take refuge in God's Son/Messiah instead of being judged by Him.
After all, David knows that he has been very wicked, and yet God forgave him when he repented (Ps. 32; 51).
Once we understand the situation and David's response, Ps. 58 is no longer morally objectionable – unless you believe that it is wrong for God to judge humans. This is the real issue that imprecatory psalms raise: Does God have the right to judge people or not? Can we reconcile God's judgment with His love?
God's love & God's judgment
The Old Testament passage most referred/alluded to in the Psalms is Ex. 34:6,7a (read).[4] Here the God of the Bible reveals two foundational aspects of His character. On the one hand, He is amazingly patient with sinful people and willing to forgive all kinds of evil (34:6,7a; define "iniquity, transgression and sin"). As other passages say, God takes no pleasure in the judgment of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23); He much prefers them to repent (2 Pet. 3:9). On the other hand, He will ultimately judge the guilty (34:7b). The "guilty" does not refer to people who sin (see 34:6,7a); it refers to the unrepentant guilty – those who refuse to acknowledge their guilt and ask God for forgiveness.
We tend to pit love against judgment, but this is a grave error. Doesn't it make sense that a loving God would not only find a way to forgive people who repent, but also ultimately oppose unrepentant people and stop them from harming others? What would we say about the Allies if they refused to defeat the Nazis and bring them to justice? What do we say about civil authorities if they refuse to take action against organized crime, or against corruption or racism in their police force? What would we say about a God who welcomes an unrepentant-to-the-very end Stalin into His eternal kingdom?[5]
So the Bible teaches that God, as the moral Governor of the world, uses His power to oppose the destructiveness of unrepentant evil. He does this in various ways, according to His own wisdom:
Often, God simply allows people reap the consequences of their wrong choices (Ps. 81:11,12; Rom. 1:24,26,28). As with the Prodigal Son, the hope is that such people will eventually come to their senses and repent (ME).
God works through fallen civil government to punish evil-doers and imperfectly deter the spread of evil through the punishment of wrong-doers (Rom. 13:4). We should pray for them to be able to do their God-given job (1 Tim. 2:1-4).
God steps in (sometimes directly, but sometimes through human agency) to take out unrepentant individuals (e.g., Saul [1 Sam. 31] and Herod [Acts 12) and nations (e.g., Canaanites; Babylon; Babylon the Great [Rev. 17,18]). This is what David prays for in Ps. 58.
God will ultimately bring all unrepentant people to account for their evil choices at the final judgment (Rev 20). Their refusal to humble themselves and acknowledge their need for God's forgiveness is the one truly unforgivable sin.
When you consider how righteous God is and how sinful humans are, our perspective on this issue changes. The amazing thing is not that anyone gets judged; the amazing thing is that anyone escapes God's judgment! David knew that God forgives repentant sinners (like himself), but he didn't know how God could do this without compromising His own righteousness.
But we who live after Jesus' death on the cross understand. Through the cross, God reconciled His love and His justice. His judgment of Jesus demonstrates how seriously He takes sin. But Jesus' willingness to be judged in our place demonstrates how loving God is. This is a marvelous solution – God maintains His righteous character, and yet is also able to accept anyone, no matter how sinful, if he simply repents and entrusts himself to Jesus (read Rom. 3:23-26). Have you acknowledged to God that you deserve His judgment? Have you asked God to forgive you through Jesus' death?
Application
Ironically, these imprecatory psalms (which first seem to promote vengeance/bitterness) actually give one of two biblical keys that help us to overcome bitterness and forsake vengeance.
One of these keys is to affirm God's forgiveness of your own wrongs against Him – and then choose to extend forgiveness to your offender (read Eph. 4:32). In view of the enormity of our guilt before God, anything less is gross hypocrisy (Matt. 18:23-35).
But serious offenses sometimes require the second key. Our anger against others' cruelty and wickedness toward us is legitimate because it is grounded in our God-given sense of justice – that perpetrators of cruelty and wickedness should be punished.
When we affirm this sense of justice, but arrogate its execution to ourselves, we become captive to vengeance and bitterness.
But when (like David) we pour out our outrage to God, and then affirm in His presence that He will punish all cruelty and wickedness, we can "transfer the case to a higher court." Then, knowing that God's justice will prevail, we can lay aside our bitterness and become agents of God's redemption. This is what Paul argues in Rom. 12:19-21 (read). Vs. 19 is key – transfer the legitimate desire for retributive justice to God. He alone has this ultimate right, and He will pay back every unrepentant evil-doer. On this basis, we can be redemptively shrewd, including doing good to such people so that their consciences may be pricked by such undeserved kindness so that they may eventually repent (vs. 20; see Rom. 2:4; Acts 7:60 >> Acts 26:14?). In this way, we escape the cycle of reciprocal sinful vengeance, and we work with God to overcome evil with good (vs. 21).
"It can bring us some relief to know that all sin will indeed be punished. In his journals, John Wesley, after describing how a person had been ill-treated, resulting in his premature death, wrote, 'But still our comfort is, "There is a God that judges in the earth"' (Ps. 58:11). When people ask the question, 'How can he get away with such a crime?' we answer: 'But he won't get away. He will have to face the awesome judgment of God one day.' The doctrine of judgment is a powerful truth that can destroy the root of bitterness in our hearts, the sense that we are always a victim at the mercy of the sins of others. Bitterness is often caused by a belief that the person who has hurt us will somehow escape from punishment. We wrongly assume that they have gotten away scot-free, while we must live with the wounds they have inflicted. But the truth of God's judgment reminds us that no one gets away with sin. Sin is always punished. In the end, there are only two ways that sin is paid for: we pay it at the cost of our own blood, or Jesus pays it at the cost of His."[6]
What about believing offenders? They will escape God's condemnation, but they will not escape His discipline, which includes sorrow and (sometimes) negative social/legal consequences for what they inflicted on their victims.
[1] Ps. 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 17, 28, 31, 35, 37, 40, 41, 44, 49, 52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 68, 69, 70, 71, 74, 79, 83, 87, 92, 94, 108, 109, 137, 139, 140, 143.
[2] "'Not fit for Christians' . . . 'shocking in themselves and time-wasting to God and man.'" Cited in John W. Wenham, The Goodness of God (InterVarsity Press, 1974), p. 149.
[3] There are also imprecatory passages in the Old Testament prophets (e.g., Jer. 11:18-23; 18:19-19:9), and in the New Testament letters (e.g., Gal. 1:8,9; 2 Tim. 4:14), and in Revelation (e.g., Rev. 6:10).
[4] See for example Ps. 5:8; 69:14; 86:5,15; 103:8; 145:8.
[5] According to Stalin's daughter, his last act on his death-bed was to curse his family members and caretakers. "My father died a . . . terrible death. At what seemed the very last moment he suddenly opened his eyes and cast a glance over everyone in the room. It was a terrible glance . . . Then he lifted his hand as though he were pointing to something above and bringing down a curse on us all. The gesture was full of menace . . . The next moment . . . the spirit wrenched itself free of the flesh." Svetlana Stalin, cited in Richard Simmons III, Reflections of the Existence of God (Union Hill Publishing, 2019), p. 118.
[6] Ajith Fernando, Reclaiming Love, pp. 58,59.